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Ajahn Phet visiting Europe in July

Ajahn Phet (Wat Prayong Gittivararam) will most probably come to Europe this year in July. If some of you are interested to see him and to receive his teachings it might be necessary to arrange bigger locations. In this case please contact us and we will forward your request to Mae Chee Brigitte.

Zurich & Switzerland 12th – 15th July

12th July
19h Meditation Zurich Mountain (ev. hall needed)

13th July
19h Meditation Zurich Mountain (ev. hall needed)

14th July
19h Meditation Zurich Mountain (ev. hall needed)

Amsterdam & the Netherlands 15th  – 19th July

15th July
19:30h Teaching at Sanghametta Vihara Amsterdam (or other place ev. hall)

16th July
18h Mindfulness-Retreat starts at Hetty Tonkes Center “De Bron” (you should apply early for that retreat as there is limited space and if needed we could arrange a bigger location)

17th July
Retreat at “De Bron”, Drenthe North Holland

18th July
Retreat until 12:00h

Berlin, Germany 19th – 21st July

19th July
19:30h Teaching at “Asia Heil” Acupuncture Practice Sylvia Koehn (ev. bigger hall needed)

20th July
19:30h Teaching at Lotusvihara Berlin (Buddhist Academy Berlin) ev. different place if needed

Salzburg, Austria 21st  – 24th July 2010

21st July
Meditation (ev. hall needed)

22nd July
19:30h Evening teaching at the Hotel “Arte Vida” Salzburg (ev. hall needed)

23rd July
19:30h Evening teaching at the Hotel “Arte Vida” Salzburg (ev. hall needed)

ZURICH 24th – 25th July

24th July
19:30h Evening teaching at the Hotel or Zurich mountain(ev. hall needed)

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Ajahn Chah Series – A Gift Of Dhamma

A Discourse delivered to the assembly of Western Monks, Novices and Lay-disciples at Bung Wai Forest Monastery, Ubon, on 10th October, 1977. This Discourse was offered to the parents of one of the monks on the occasion of their visit from France.

I am happy that you have taken this opportunity to come and visit Wat Pah Pong, and to see your son who is a monk here, however I’m sorry I have no gift to offer you. France already has so many material things, but of Dhamma there’s very little. Having been there and seen for myself, there isn’t really any Dhamma there which could lead to peace and tranquillity. There are only things which continually make one’s mind confused and troubled.

France is already materially prosperous, it has so many things to offer which are sensually enticing — sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures. However, people ignorant of Dhamma only become confused by them. So today I will offer you some Dhamma to take back to France as a gift from Wat Pah Pong and Wat Pah Nanachat.

What is Dhamma? Dhamma is that which can cut through the problems and difficulties of mankind, gradually reducing them to nothing. That’s what is called Dhamma and that’s what should be studied throughout our daily lives so that when some mental impression arises in us, we’ll be able to deal with it and go beyond it.

Problems are common to us all whether living here in Thailand or in other countries. If we don’t know how to solve them, we’ll always be subject to suffering and distress. That which solves problems is wisdom and to have wisdom we must develop and train the mind.

The subject of practice isn’t far away at all, it’s right here in our body and mind. Westerners and Thais are the same, they both have a body and mind. A confused body and mind means a confused person and a peaceful body and mind, a peaceful person.

Actually, the mind, like rain water, is pure in its natural state. If we were to drop green coloring into clear rain water, however, it would turn green. If yellow coloring it would turn yellow.

Den Rest des Eintrags lesen. »

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Ajahn Martin – Wurzeln des Buddhismus

Als ich erfuhr, dass der Verein buddhistisches Waldkloster sich aufgelöst hat, kam mir die Idee zu diesem Beitrag.

Er versucht ein Bild von einem lebendigem Buddhismus, wie er derzeit noch in Thailand anzutreffen ist, zu zeichnen(1). Seit mehr als 14 Jahrhunderten ist Buddhismus ein Bestandteil der Thailändischen Kultur. Länger wahrscheinlich als das Christentum in Deutschland. Aus diesem Grunde kann man sagen, dass der Buddhismus in Thailand verwurzelt ist. Er hat seine Wurzeln tief in die Bevölkerung und die Sprache eingegraben. Viele der Palibegriffe sind Bestandteil der Thai-Sprache. Der Buddhismus ist durch wandernde Mönche von Indien, Sri Lanka über Burma nach Thailand gekommen. Es gibt viele Höhlen, die davon zeugen, dass in all den Jahrhunderten Mönche dort gelebt haben und nicht wenige von Ihnen haben die höchste Stufe der Vollkommenheit erreicht, die Arahantschaft.
Das Mönchstum und die Ausdrucksweise hat sich ebenfalls tief in die Sprache eingegraben. Nur zum Beispiel, Mönche speisen, während Laien essen. Wenn Laien von sich reden verwenden sie Ich, wenn Mönche von sich sprechen, dann verwenden sie Atama, oder den majestätischen Plural “Wir”. Dies gilt auch für viele andere Worte, wenn ein Mönch eine Tätigkeit ausübt, wird ein bestimmtes Wort verwendet, wenn der Laie dieselbe Tätigkeit ausführt, ein anderes. Außerdem gibt es in der thailändischen Sprache noch eine dritte Form oder Ausdrucksweise, um dasselbe für ein Mitglied der königlichen Familie zu sagen. D.h. es gibt 3 Formen, Königtum, Mönchtum und Laientum. Selbst im Laientum wird dann noch unterschieden zwischen dem einfachen Volk und den Adligen.
Im Jahre 2500  (1957 nach christl. Zeitrechnung) wurde in Thailand im Kloster Asokaram das 2500 jährige Bestehen des Buddhismus gefeiert. Diese feierliche Zeremonie wurde vom Ehrwürdigen Vater (Lungphor) Lee organisiert. Er war der Abt des Klosters Asokaram. Dies war ein Jahr nach dem Ableben des Ehrwürdigen Lehrmeisters Mann. Der Ehrwürdige Vater Lee, war ein Mönch mit den größten übernatürlichen Fähigkeiten. Ein paar Szenen aus dem Dokumentar über die feierliche Zeremonie ist in folgendem Video zu sehen:

Den Rest des Eintrags lesen. »

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Anagarika Tevijjo – BUDDHIST ANALYSIS OF PHENOMENA

Not Seeing the Ultimate Nature of Phenomena

Before beginning our text, today, we shall, first, respectfully urge our readers [unless they happen to be Pali scholars] to remain open to the possibility of undergoing a total, mental ‘twist-of-mind’─ a paradigm shift ─or  in other words, to be prepared to see phenomena in the exact opposite way in which, we, as ‘so-called’ normal human beings, are commonly-accustomed to experiencing ‘so-called’ solid things in this ‘so-called’ world, ‘supposedly seen” around us.

Why Should We Experience Things differently?

To be more explicit, we should be prepared to realize that things and objects in-the-world, which we ‘believe’ we see as fixed-entities (right before our very eyes) arising and moving around us, (as we “perceive” them to be), are just based upon sets of conventional assumptions within men’s minds, dependent upon the result of common man’s limited-perceptual, mental-physical [and wholly-inadequate] mental capacity for full and real comprehension of the ultimate nature of phenomena.

“Seeing is believing.” is merely a colloquial expression.

“Seeing can be deceiving.” is another common colloquialism.

Many would agree that, “What we think we see is just a mental delusion.”

Many would say that “What you choose to believe depends on which way you are “leaning.”

If most of were honest, we would say, “Cognition is downright confusing.”

And if we keep observing the mental process in this way, sooner or later, we begin to feel uneasy about our previously-unquestioned and unqualified-confidence in the reality of what we had always commonly accepted as “conventional reality.”

Then, when and as the autonomous assumptions of our ‘belief system’ begin to shake, we naturally begin to quake, and, subsequently, we feel fear and trembling in the face of fear of ahihilation of everything we have ever believed in.

Luckily for us, the situation is not so serious.

We have become the butt of the human comedy, but all we need to do [to avoid playing the fool: the one who is not yet wise to the way of things] is lose our wrong view of the world.

For example, a quantum physicist would say that, despite all appearances, matter and all phenomena have no substantial realty, except at the levels of waves and energies.

Most of us know that already, so why do we insist upon our obdurate adherence to belief in external reality? Why do we want to hang onto it? Why don’t we want to let go of it? Why do we cling to our obvious ignorance concerning the difference between right and wrong view of phenomena?.

Despite evidence [from particle theory in physics], most common, mundane men still conventionally [and often tenaciously and even stubbornly] continue to see the world of appearances, and believe-in and conceive-of mind-objects, as consisting of concrete, solid matter ─ or being permanenent and abiding-entities ─ on commonly-understood levels. Is this due to obdurate ignorance or to the limitations of human perception?

Is it a being comfortable in one’s ignorance or is having a ‘fear of adapting to change’ to see with right view?

If we see the opposite of “wrong view,” we will come to see the ultimate and true nature of phenomena.

If we come to know, in terms of particle physics, that all phenomena might be better-understood as totally lacking in substance, the above-suggested “paradigm shift” would not be so hard to accept, especially if we were to consider that such an opposite to wrong view of the nature of phenomena would be more understandably true, and more easily adapted-to, for the establishment of mental security in in a world in which everything is always in a state of flux and changing. [See endnote number 1.]

Now we come to the mental crux of the whole exercise which we have been gradually leading up to.

The surprise which shakes the very foundations of Western Philosophy and Theory of Knowledge concerning ‘so called’ conventional truth is that, more than 2500 years ago, [long before quantum physics] what we may term a ‘Buddhist Analysis of Phenomena’ was used in original Pali Theravada observation and investigation of mind-objects [phenomena] to explicate the process of fleeting arising and ceasing of appearances in the realm of ultimate truths.

The complete essay (109 pages) can be downloaded as a PDF.

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ForestDhamma: 5 khandhas

The five khandhas

The five khandhas are rupa vedana sanna sankhara and vinnana
Rupa, as body and form, vedana as basic, bare feeling of pleasant, unpleasant or neutral sensations. Not as in I feel good or bad depressed or happy. Latter are mixed feelings or emotions, produced by interaction of several khandhas and cycles.
Sanna as being memory and associations (labels) and long form of thoughts.
sankhara as single thoughts or short form of thoughts
vinnana as being aware of sense contact. Not yet knowing what sense, this is the function of sanna. As in vinnana is the condition for form and meaning to arise.

Die fünf khandhas sind wie folgend, rupa vedana sanna sankhara und vinnana
Rupa als Form und Körper.
Vedana als elementares Gefühl von unangenehm, angenehm, oder neutral. Nicht ich fühle mich gut, schlecht, glücklich. Das wären dann schon zusammengemischte Gefühle oder Emotionen, gemischt aus mehreren
khandhas und Durchgängen.
Sanna als Gedächtnis und Assoziationen (Bezeichnungen, Identifikation) und lange Gedankenketten.
Sankhara als einzelne Gedanken und kurze Gedankenketten.
Vinnana als Sinneskontakt. Noch nicht wissen welcher Sinn Kontakt gemacht hat, das wäre die Funktion von
sanna das herauszufinden. Wie in, vinnana ist die Bedingung, dass Form und Bedeutung entstehen kann.

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